98 SCIENTIFIC SURVEY OF NOTTINGHAM AND DISTRICT 



Trent Fishery District are licensed anglers following a recreation with 

 apparent national advantages, quite apart from the circulation in this 

 district alone of about one and a half milhon pounds per annum. 



It has been said with much truth that the one effective step taken 

 by the government to remedy river pollution was, by the Sahnon and 

 Freshwater Fisheries Act 1923, the enabling of anglers to levy a rod tax 

 on themselves to provide funds for Fishery Boards to combat river 

 pollution. The rescue and partial resuscitation of the River Trent, a 

 matter of moment to industrial, agricultural and communal interests as 

 much as to the angler, was therefore left to such financial provision as 

 might be made by the angler. The progress made during ten years has 

 been remarkable and the report of the Trent Fishery Board for 1936 

 sums up the present situation as follows : — 



' It is satisfactory to be able now to record that practically all the 

 sources of major pollution are under some control. Continuous 

 supervision and persistent representations must, however, be main- 

 tained to preserve the ground that has been won. Assuming the 

 non-recurrence of remedied pollution it will however take several 

 years of natural scouring of the fouled river bed to bring about the 

 full rehabilitation of some of the polluted streams. There are still, 

 also, a considerable number of minor polluting agencies in the water- 

 shed with their, in total, very noxious effects. Many of these are, 

 by reason of the fact that they do not cause immediate mortality in 

 fish, difficult to locate and to have remedied. Further advance there- 

 fore now requires systematic analyses and biological observations 

 conducted on a uniform basis over the whole watershed. This is, 

 however, beyond the present financial resources of this Board.' 

 Such progress as has been made in the past ten years is due ahnost 

 entirely to the activities of Fishery Boards whose financial resources are 

 practically restricted to hcence fees levied on anglers. In the Trent 

 Fishery District the various county and other councils receive between 

 them, in rates levied on occupied fishery rights, several times the total 

 revenue of the Fishery Board but without, in most cases, any concern 

 being shown by them for the conservation of such fisheries. 



There is now a pressing need for government to bring about, or at 

 least to facilitate, the institution of a comprehensive biological investi- 

 gation of this important watershed of the River Trent. The present 

 anomaly in regard to finance must receive consideration, but it may be 

 noted that the cost of the required work would represent only one- 

 twentieth of a penny rate levied over the watershed. Very varying inter- 

 ests are to be served by the maintenance of reasonably pure rivers capable 

 of maintaining fish fife. The matter is of moment to water-undertakers, 

 urban and rural communities, and drainage authorities. The objects to 

 be served are the conservation of the water resources of the district to 

 meet the growing needs of industry and domestic use, the protection of 

 agricultural interests, the revival of valuable salmon and eel fishing in- 

 dustries as food producing media, and the increasing need and demand 

 for health promoting recreation by growing urban populations. 



